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Once-bipartisan tax reform effort becomes partisan

Updated at: 11/19/2013 1:05 PM
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

(AP) WASHINGTON - The top Democratic tax writer in Congress is trying to jump-start stalled efforts to rewrite the nation’s tax laws. But he is running into the same kind of partisan roadblocks that plague most major initiatives in Washington.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana unveiled a proposal Tuesday to allow corporations to bring foreign profits into the U.S. at reduced tax rates. It would be part of a larger plan to change the way the U.S. taxes multinational corporations.

Corporate America has been clamoring for the changes, and the idea has support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Tuesday’s announcement was supposed to be a bipartisan affair, but Republican senators backed away from the effort, fearing it will become a vehicle for a tax increase.